Rain in July

One of the first things I learned about the San Diego climate was that it simply didn’t rain in the summer. Once April is done you won’t see rain until November. But this weekend it came down in buckets.

It started with some stray drops around 10 am and you don’t think anything will come from it. But by noon the houses across the street were in the white filter of a downpour. Even more rare, it was a thunderstorm.

Sophie and I began to count after I saw a flash out the window, to guess how far away the lightning was. One was real close. It was a blinding white light immediately followed by the explosive clap.

What we were seeing were the remnants of tropical storm Dolores. The storm brought humid air in its wake that was sometimes stirred by the winds but mostly it held us like a heavy robe and made the temps in the 80’s feel a lot warmer. Am I living in the tropics? Will I hear frogs croaking in the trees?

Folks around here get excited when it rains, especially now that we’ve still got a long ways to go to recovered from a four-year drought. The plants in this desert cling to life and life just got easier, thanks to the blessing of rain in July.